Traduzioni mediterranee. Due interpreti in America Latina tra narrazione e progetto

The essay will develop an investigation on how the Mediterranean imaginary has influenced the cultures which are far away from the original geographical basin. The theme of the patio houses is widely reflected in the contemporary architectural debate, considering the patio as an archetypal element, the core of the mediterranean house that defines and controls nature and frames the landscape. The Latin American case is emblematic. The Latin American culture has always had an affinity with the Mediterranean one. The tools behind the reasoning will move with a double interpretative key: the first one arises from Le Corbusier's influence on Latin American architecture, especially in Brazil. His lessons held in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay and then collected in "Précisions sur un état présent de l'architecture et de l'urbanisme", can be considered as a paradigm of Latin American modernism, with the mixture of new inputs that will show a strong bond with the Mediterranean culture. The second interpretation refers to the years when Gio Ponti conducted on Domus a research on the types and features of the Mediterranean architecture, starting from his projects and the exchanges he had with Bernard Rudofsky. The Mediterranean influence brought and still brings prolific results in the architecture of Latin America, especially in the characteristics that are examined here, and develop continuous reinterpretations that keep this idea of living.